Malaysia has closed several popular dive sites to save its fragile corals, which have already been damaged by high water temperatures this year, an official said yesterday.
Twelve out of 83 spots around the popular islands of Perhentian, Redang and Tioman in the east and Payar in the west have been off-limits to divers and snorkelers since early this month, said Abdul Jamal Mydin, director general of the Department of Marine Parks.
He said virtually all the corals in the area have been damaged, some as much as 90 percent, by the rising sea temperatures. Most have begun to turn white — a condition known as coral bleaching that causes coral to lose color and even eventually die.
Officials say divers tend to dredge sand from the seabed, which settles on coral and damages it further. There is also the fear divers would bump into the corals. Some 500,000 tourists visit the area each year.
The sites are expected to stay closed until Oct. 31, giving the corals enough time to recover without the additional disturbances of boats, divers and snorkelers, Abdul Jamal said.
“We expect them to recover or at least improve,” he said, adding that Malaysia risked losing tourists and its biodiverse marine life if its corals — one of its main attractions — died.
However, tourists can still dive at other sites that are less fragile around the islands off Terengganu, Pahang and Kedah states, so tourism overall won’t take a hit, Abdul Jamal said.
Water temperatures in the area have risen to 30˚C to 31˚C in recent months, up 2˚C from their normal level, he said. However, with the coming rain, temperatures are expected to sink again, Abdul Jamal said.
He said Malaysian corals were previously threatened with bleaching in 1998 and 2006 as part of a worldwide cyclical weather pattern, but no sites were closed because it wasn’t as severe.
Malaysia’s dive sites are renowned to be among the world’s top spots, and many are protected as marine parks. However, environmentalists have long complained authorities should protect the country’s corals and marine life more vigorously.
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